US-based genetic biotech firm Intrexton has purchased a 48% stake in the London Stock Exchange-listed AquaBounty Technologies.
The transaction sees Intrexon purchase 48,631,444 AquaBounty shares for $6m in cash from Netherlands-based equity fund manager Linnaeus Capital Partners and it’s subsidiary Tethys Oceans.The price paid per share,about $0.12 each.) represents a 49% premium over AquaBounty’s closing market value.
Linnaeus Capital Partners was founded by Kakha Bendukidze, a Georgian oligarch and early financial backer of AquaBounty.
Upon completion of the acquisition, Kakha Bendukidze and three other Linnaeus backed members will resign from AquaBounty’s board of directors.
As part of the transaction agreement between Intrexon, Linnaeus and AquaBounty, Intrexton is tendering an offer to purchase more than half of all outstanding AquaBounty shares at the same price per share as Intrexon’s acquisition from Linnaeus and Tethys.
In a press release, Thomas Kasser, president of Intrexon’s Animal Science Division, said: “This transaction will accelerate our efforts to play a leading role in solving the world’s emerging food shortages through biotechnology.”
Founded in 1991, US-based AquaBounty is researching and breeding fast growing genetically modified fish. The company hopes that its salmon will become the first genetically modified animal approved by the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) for human consumption. However, the company has faced political opposition to its work which has put FDA approval in question. AquaBounty has faced financial difficulties since and has seen it’s share price shrink 29-fold since being listed in 2006.
According a report published in news provider New York Times, Bendukidze and other investors managed to raise $2m for Aquabounty in March this year, however before Intrexton’s involvement, that money was set to run out by year’s end.